Here’s a question that I think most people ask themselves when they purchase a TiVo. Should I purchase the lifetime subscription fee ($299) or should I go ahead and pay the $12.95 monthly subscription fee.

To make this decision a little easier, I’ve decided to put together the pros and cons of each decision. Without any further a due, here they are:

Monthly Service Fee ($12.95)

Pros
• Paid on monthly basis, obviously not as much upfront cost.
• If your TiVo breaks, you can stop paying the fee.
• If you decided that you really don’t need a TiVo (I don’t know how that is possible) then, you can get rid of it and not have to worry about all the money you spent upfront.
• If TiVo decides to lower their monthly service fee or lifetime subscription fee, you may be able to take advantage of some great prices (This happened the multi-TiVo service fee).

Cons
• You have a monthly bill, does anybody really need another bill?
• If the monthly service fee goes up, you are going to have to pay the higher price or get rid of your TiVo

Wait….why am I going to do the pros/cons of the lifetime subscription fee! It’s basically the exact opposite of the monthly fee. The only thing to point out is that the lifetime fee only covers the life of the TiVo and not the life of the subscriber. If you’re at all lucky, you will out last your TiVo. TiVo says it best when they say:

Of course, hardware products don’t last forever and their lifespan will vary among individual products. TiVo makes no representations or warranties as to the expected lifetime of the product aside from the manufacturer’s warranty.

I hoped the above set of pros and cons help you decide which subscription plan is right for you. One thing to keep in mind is that you should probably make your decision early on so that you get the best return if you decide to go with a lifetime subscription.

When I say that TiVo has changed my life for the better, I truly mean it. TiVo allows me to watch what I want when I want to. If it wasn’t for TiVo I would spend most of my TV time surfing for something to watch. I’m not trying to come across as some kind of “coach potato”. On any given day, I watch TV at most two hours. TiVo allows me to watch quality TV instead of having to search for something to watch.

When I tell people about the wonderful experience I’ve had with TiVo, most people don’t understand what I am talking about. I think that for the most part they wonder why I am so obsessed with this product.

In any case, check out this article which details how TiVo has changed this one guys life. His experience is pretty much the same as mine…

TiVo is about to announce a new rewards program whereby TiVo users get points for referring a friend or for using a TiVo branded credit card.

In order to get something useful, you need a rather large number of points.

This is all just one step TiVo is trying to take to ensure that they continue to receive new customers.

Here’s an interesting article over at the New York Times which compares TiVo’s current situation to what Apple has experienced over the past 20 years.

“TiVo achieved well-known-brand status in record time, but just because everyone knows a brand doesn’t mean they’re going to buy it,” Mr. Lister added. “TiVo is facing a tough road ahead.”

Check it out if you get a chance….

This USAToday news article talks more about the new marketing campaign that TiVo is set to launch.

Print ads, some with multipage layouts, will also start appearing in dozens of newspapers and magazines. TiVo products, which are already sold through retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Good Guys, and Amazon.com, will also expand to store shelves in Sam’s Club, CompUSA, Target.com, Fry’s Electronics and Costco.

Looks as though TiVo is going to start showing up all over the place….

With today’s announcement that TiVo is going to lower the price on 40-hour boxes, I wonder should I go ahead and purchase another TiVo so that I have two in the house? This is something that I’ve always considered however; in the past, the cost of an additional TiVo plus the additional subscription fee has kept me from doing it.

Now things have change, with today’s announcement, you can pick up a NEW TiVo for $100! Also, a couple of months ago, TiVo announced that the subscription fee on a second TiVo is only $6.95 instead of $12.95!

What do you think? Should I get another one? My current setup allows me to watch TiVo in every room however; wouldn’t it be nice to record multiple shows at the same time? Can you imagine a TiVo cluster setup to record every channel available….wait a minute I’m starting to get a little cared away :).

According to this article, TiVo is once again going to lower their DVR prices in order to try and increase their customer base. TiVo is shooting for 10 million customers by 2008. They currently have ~1.6 million.

The San Jose, California-based company, whose fee-based digital video recorder service lets users pause live TV and customize viewing choices, said it would offer a $100 mail-in rebate on its 40-hour set-top box, which sells for $200.

This is just one step TiVo is taking to ensure they that stay on top of the DVR market. As of late, TiVo has been under a lot of pressure. Just recently they found out that DirecTV is going to start shipping their own brand of DVR. As if that wasn’t enough, TiVo is also under pressure from most of the cable companies who are trying to sell their own brand of DVRs. As I said before, this is all going to be good for the consumer. Once TiVo decides what they need to do, we are going to see some great deals in the DVR market….. Stay tuned, more to come!

According to this article, a male is more likely to purchase a TiVo within the next year then a women is.

As far as I am concerned, I find this study to be correct. Out of all the people that I know with a TiVo, only one of them was purchased by a female. I’m not sure why this is the case however; I know that now that I’ve owned a TiVo for a little over a year, my wife would never want to get rid of it. Prior to getting it, she use to be a little skeptical of the device. Now she is almost as addicted to the TiVo as I am .

I think that I’ve out grown my TiVo. I’ve gotten to the point where I am starting to delete a lot of shows before I watch them. I know that I can tell the TiVo to save it until I need to delete it however; I recently recorded a bunch of movies and I don’t want to have to worry about TiVo not recording my “daily” shows.

The thing that I’ve been debating over is whether or not I should buy an upgrade kit from one of the many TiVo upgrade sites or should I go about installing a hard drive on my own. I’m kind of leaning towards getting an upgrade kit since they give you everything you need to perform the upgrade…. Stay tuned…..

According to this CNN news article, the FCC just approved TiVo’s new technology known as TiVoToGo. TivoToGo will allow TiVo customers to transfer their recorded shows to their computer and eventually other devices. This is a major break through for TiVo. Over the past couple of weeks, TiVo has had nothing but bad news.

The TiVoToGo services is expected to be launced this coming Fall :)!